Fuad: More medical specialists needed

Three teaching hospitals churn out 7,000 medical specialists – Najib

Khan said there was a shortage of medical practitioners in several specialist areas and he was trying to implement plans to increase the number of local specialists, and to expand specialist training locally. To help solve the problem, Khan said he would be taking to Cabinet a proposal to have a university hospital established at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope. Khan said he will be asking the assistance of the Ministry of Science Technology and Tertiary Education (STTE) and John Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland to start a University Hospital of Trinidad and Tobago. Khan said he agreed with president of the Trinidad and Tobago Medical Association Dr Frank Ramlakhansingh, who said there was no shortage of doctors but too few with postgraduate training in specialist fields. Ramlakhansingh said hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent for local doctors to get qualifications, but many were practicing abroad. The State was left in a position of having to employ foreigners to fill the specialists positions in the public health care system, Ramlakhansingh said. Khan said more medical research and development was needed and there was a need to monitor tertiary students who were funded by the government because many were not sticking to their contract of working for the government for a number of years upon completion of their degree. Khan agreed with the STTE’s Minister Fazal Karim who said that State-assisted students should each have a guarantor, so that if they did not stick to the contract “there will be somebody who will have to pay.” Khan said it will not cost much money to establish the university hospital; there will just be a shift in management. The speciality areas needed were neurosurgery, haematology, pathology, radiology, laparoscopic surgery (surgery of the abdomen), cardiology, paediatric surgery and paediatric sub-specialites, such as paediatric neurology and paediatric cardiology. Khan said, “We also need a lot of clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and specialists in different areas. We need a whole host of sub-specialists because they need to concentrate and focus on a specialist area.” He said, “I am also in the process of working on a Cabinet note to allow doctors who have been trained already and are in the programme to access full pay study leave to do sub-speciality training programmes so they could bring their expertise back to Trinidad to train the young doctors that are coming up.” Three doctors have already been sent abroad at a cost of $250,000 per scholarship to study in the areas of neurology, laparoscopic surgery and paediatric neurology, he said.

We apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later. KUALA LUMPUR: Three university teaching hospitals under the Education Ministry have produced more than 7,000 experts in various medical fields in the country, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. The teaching hospitals are University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) in Kuala Lumpur, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan and Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Cheras. The Prime Minister said the medical experts contributed and served in Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Otorinolaringology, Ophthalmology and Paediatrics. “In the field of pediatrics or children, the three university teaching hospitals have produced more than 450 experts,” he said in his speech when launching the Permata Children Specialist Hospital at the UKM Medical Centre, here today. Also present was his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, who is also the patron of PERMATA Negara. Najib said the first Permata children specialist hospital in the country was expected to be ready in 2017 and would become another teaching hospital to train more doctors and child specialists as well as sub-specialists in the various paediatric disciplines. The hospital will have 135 experts and medical officers as well as more than 1,700 support staff. In addition, the Prime Minister said 12,000 medical doctors had been produced by the 17 other public and private institutions of higher learning offering medical doctor degree programmes. Najib also said that the doctor: population ratio in the country had reached 1 doctor for every 800 residents and this was expected to reach a ratio of 1:600 in 2015, that is the standard stipulated by the World Health Organisation. “The government has implemented a very comprehensive health service system, including rural maternity services, rural clinics, health clinics, district hospitals, general hospital and tertiary hospital like the Hospital Kuala Lumpur,” he added. Story first published on: August 24, 2013 07:48 (MYT) Tags: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Education Ministry, medical Also See

Minority children with autism lack access to specialists

Research shows that when the disadvantaged are healthier, the country as a whole is healthier. Yes, those who could afford health care regardless of how it is structured would be healthier if the disadvantaged were healthier. It also goes without saying also that there is a lot of money to be saved by preventative care that a better health care system would grant us. I know we are the greatest country in the world, and many of us feel that that means we can not learn anything from any other country. Nevertheless, we really could and should. Other developed countries have better health care systems than the U.S.. I know this shocks some people and others just choose to ignore this fact or to find a way to just not believe it. However, it is true. Their health care cost less, the patients have better outcomes and many illnesses are simply prevented in the first place. If the thought of everyone being healthy does not appeal to all, don’t focus on everyone else. Just focus on yourself and what others becoming healthier will mean for you. June 25, 2013 at 23:37 | Report abuse | Fiona How about his explanation for the disparity: white moms and dads go to great lengths to have their kids deemed “autism spectrum” so the kids can get extra attention and serives on the public dime? It’s very common in my state. June 17, 2013 at 23:34 | Report abuse | Reply Alene Yeah, that sounds like a plausible explanation. Who in their right mind would WANT their child to be autistic or labeled autistic? I think your logic is a bit faulty.